Is There a Cure for Type 2 Diabetes?

If you are reading this article, you may have Type 2 Diabetes, or have realized that you are at risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. You probably want to know: “is there a cure for Type 2 Diabetes?”

This article is written not to scare but to inform, however when you look at the consequences, it’s hard not to be a little shaken. Lets take a look at all these contributing factors separately, and then look at what you can do to minimize your risk.

Can you cure Type 2 Diabetes?

Firstly, lets get down to the consequences of developing Type II Diabetes, and hopefully this will motivate you to act on your risk factors.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the negative consequences:

Death – sure to happen eventually, but diabetes greatly increases the chance of the following conditions that will certainly shorten your life, and quality of life.

Gangrene – Due to damage of the circulatory system, in this case your peripheral, or near to the surface circulation. If your body hasn’t got blood it will die. This is how gangrene starts. Commonly with diabetics, it is the feet that suffer from this. Blood stops flowing and essentially the surrounding tissue dies… “Wow my foot is now rotting!” No joke, it is like part of your body dying while the rest of you is still alive.

Kidney Failure – You need your kidneys. Yes you can function with one, but what if both are screwed? Good luck finding one from your family or a compatible donor if you need a transplant. “Why would I need a transplant?” All your organs are clearly there for a reason. Your kidneys play a vital role in your entire metabolism, from digestion, to energy production to excretion of waste. They also play a vital role in the regulation of insulin, and hence, are crucial to your management or prevention of diabetes. Diabetes will kill your kidneys slowly, like gangrene, and also lead to other complications like high blood pressure.

Blindness – Once again, good ol’ diabetes is killing stuff. The nerves involved with the function of your eyes are damaged like the way diabetes affects all your organs. Your nerves stop working. Early signs of this relate to abnormal vision like spots or blurriness, or part of your vision missing. Diabetes will most certainly increase the likelihood of conditions like glaucoma (basically a skin growing over your eye that clouds your vision), and blindness relating to nerve damage that feed the eye relies on to function. How you gonna read your Glucose Meter.

Thyroid problems – Feeling tired, exhausted, generally crap. That could by your thryoid gland not doing what it is meant to. Your thyroid is responsible of the secretion of vital hormones that regulate how you feel. Diabetes will screw with this.

Heart failure – Not only because of your heart having to work harder to compensate for your other organs not pulling their weight, your heart will be forced to work harder because your body is going into self preservation mode, and in doing so everything is working harder. This is not to be confused with exercise that instigates elevated heart rate, blood pressure etc. Your heart is doing this under no external stimuli, just because your sick body is forcing it to.

Dental problems – To cut a long story short, your teeth will fall out, you will have abscesses/infection, and your mouth will look like a backdrop for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That is of course if you don’t have a dental plan and access to a system that will help you, even thought ultimately it is your decision to not address your own health issues.

Depression – Any chronic (long-term) condition can lead to depression for obvious reasons.

Sexual dysfunction – Despite what the term conjures up, this is related to both males and females. Once again we are getting back to the fact that diabetes causes neuropathy – the death of nerves. The conditions above are generally a result of this. Why should it be any different for your thang!

Brain Damage – If this is not enough to motivate you to avoid OR FIX these problems, you should probably have yourself assessed by a mental health professional

Liver damage – Diabetes is the leading cause of liver failure and also cirrhosis of the liver (healthy cells being replaced by scar tissue. In fact, Type 2 Diabetes will double your chance of damaging your liver.

Even though the list above seems scary (and to be honest it is scary), there are measures you can take to reduce or even eliminate these consequences.